Melon season

It must be melon season, as Ocado tell me they are willing to sell them to me slightly more cheaply than usual. It puts me in mind of my great melon experience, which took place in the south of France when I was nineteen. It was summer and I was deeply in love with my first boyfriend. He invited me to stay with his grandmother at her house in Gaillac, a rambling manor house right in the village. His best friend, Eric, came along and there were several children there too, who were cousins of Gerard. These latter would pitch furious battles against Gerard and Eric, who seemed to think it their duty as older boys to be excessively disciplinarian with the children. Every day in the great stone dining room we were given deep orange Charantais melons. One day as we sat down to our melons I observed to the two boys, Gerard and his best friend, Eric, that I loved these wonderful French melons!

Eric had already tucked into his melon, sitting where he always sat on the left hand side. I normally sat on the right, but today I had changed places and was sitting in the middle. 'Of course,' he observed conversationally, 'there are those who serve the melon with salt.'

Gerard began to eat his and didn't react. 'With salt?' I exclaimed bemusedly. 'How bizarre!' Then I took a mouthful of my melon and felt the inch of salt sank into my tongue.

The children, revenging themselves for some evil dealt out by the two boys had salted their melons. I was not their enemy, so they had left my melon free. But Gerard and I had changed places. I can confirm that salt is not a good thing to eat with melon, but that those southern French melons were the finest I have ever tasted.

A National Obsession

Just occasionally the British find something that unites us. Princess Diana's death was one example. The story of Madeleine McCann's disappearance is another. I wonder why this particular case has got to us so much? Unashamedly I admit to being as obsessed with it as everyone else - I think it is partly to do with being a parent. The surrealism of arresting Mr Murat, essentially on the basis that a journalist found him 'spooky' overwhelms me. Surely having a glass eye and weirding out a Mirror journalist are not grounds for arresting someone?? I love the story of the villagers of Hockering standing up for Mr Murat, having consulted on the matter in the local pub.

The McCann's have bravely stated that they believe Madeleine is alive and being cared for. That is a statement of faith. In my experience, God never fails to honour a statement of faith such as that. I am ashamed to admit that I have feared the worst for this little girl, because if we believe that God loves us and hears our prayers then we cannot doubt that He is taking care of Madeleine wherever she is.

Someone once lectured me on the importance of praising God for everything, and especially for the bad things in life. It was brave of him to lecture me as I was outraged by the suggestion. And I am eternally grateful to that brave friend for setting me straight. What I have learnt is that if you praise God even for the events that really seem to have no upside, then God always brings good out of them. It is as though you were turning those events over to the power of the Kingdom, and then they become for the good. My friend gave me a long theological explanation for why this is so, but I'm afraid such things do not stay in my head. Enough to remember always to praise God even when you do not feel like it, and let Him work.

I think that is in a way what the McCann's are doing, and I admire them for it. But I just wish Madeleine would be returned to them.

I think this outpouring of emotion - stoked though it may be by media pragmatism - may be seen to reflect God's love for every one of us, His concern for every hair on our head. Madeleine's distinctive pupil reminded me of a tear for someone who has slipped through the cracks. Over the past fortnight we have witnessed an outburst of faith. It symbolises the human and ultimately divine desire for everyone to be loved enough. Madeleine has gone unnoticed, and deep within us we cannot bear that. By saying that she matters so much we want to express the truth, which is that everyone matters enormously.

Benn's really unsleazy sleaze scandal

What a non news story this was. Hopefully (though I doubt it) we are so used to this kind of journalism that we are capable of reading a news story properly and seeing this for the ridiculous fire free smoke screen that it is. In fact it is a perfect example of an article so padded that in the end it makes a lot of accusations without having much in the way of facts to back them up. What the story actually says is that Hilary Benn's department has a tiny contract with a company that Benn has a piddling amount of inherited shares in. Does anyone really think that if Hilary Benn wanted to make money out of Dfid he would waste time on such a pathetic interest as this? Come on! Let's have some real news.

Not so safe countries

As the horror of the Madeleine McCann case drags on, today I spoke to Homayra Seller of Innocents in Danger charity, a Unesco charity, about her work protecting children from paedophiles. She described how she pulled out of setting up a branch in Portugal after encountering too much corruption and 'obstructions'. 'It is a case of looking left when you should look right,' she said of certain countries and their attitude to the problem. Which countries are more vulnerable to being exploited by paedophilies? Her answer was a blunt list, 'Portugal, Greece, Madeira, Holland, Belgium and certain parts of Italy, namely Milan and Naples. Those are the countries that are more easily exploited by predatory paedophiles. Parents should understand that there is a demand for European children. And don't leave your children alone in the bedroom. Just don't do it.'

How long was it really between when Madeleine was last seen by her parents and when the borders were closed?

That said we have to balance the risk of with realism. How likely is it that your child will suffer the fate of Maddy? In the last five years, just 11 under fives have gone missing in the UK. It is of course 11 too many, but paranoia is also a danger. I hardly need add that my thoughts and prayers are with Madeleine and her family.

the art of weather

Library of Water (Vatnasafn) is an art installation in the town of Stykkisholmur on the western coast of Iceland. It is an observatory style room in the former library where constellations of glacial water from Iceland's glaciers fill glass columns. Natural light refracts through the columns to create a kind of lighthouse where the light plays with words inscribed on the floor that describe the state of the weather or the mood of the viewer. Through the columns watery visions of the town outside can be seen. It is a brilliant fusion of environment, art and community; both an art installation and a space for community reflection and activity from writers' readings to yoga classes.

The installation's catchphrase 'You are the weather' is more alarmingly true than it first seems. It was reported in the media recently that it really does rain more at weekends, because all the pollution builds up during the week and brings a downpour on Sunday. Our polluting lifestyles that cause the bad weather. And Our Lady of Knock is reported to have told the Irish, among other things, that if they prayed more the weather would improve.